Before Sansa and Brienne arrived at Castle Black, Tormund’s storyline was all about Jon Snow and now it’s all about his crush on Brienne. Kristofer Hivju tells THR that he is loving the attention his character is getting this season:

“I just came on Instagram, so suddenly I have a hand in the fan bowl. It’s very interesting. (Laughs.) I’ve been missing this, you know? Honestly. I asked David and Dan about this last season: ‘Who is Tormund with? Where is his wife? Where are his kids?’ Because we went to Hardhome, and since I’ve been talking about my kids, then there’s probably a wife. But they said to me, ‘He’s probably more of a bachelor kind of guy.’ (Laughs.) So when I read the [scenes with Brienne], I was like, ‘Yes! Finally! There’s a love interest!’ Of course, Brienne is the perfect match for Tormund Giantsbane.”

So what is it that Tormund sees in Brienne? Is it love or lust? Hivju thinks it’s both:

“I don’t think Tormund differentiates between love and lust. That’s one thing to him. It’s one big bowl of nice things to him. (Laughs.) It’s definitely ‘love-lust at first sight… The great thing about them is, if they fought, you don’t know who would win. That’s a great start of a relationship. That attracts him! That’s part of what’s so great about it. It’s like, nobody has exactly seen Tormund flirt with anybody. Nobody expected to see it. People only expect him to fight and to grumble. It’s nice to show a different view and take on the character. It’s a brand new side of Tormund.”

The actor also reveals that Tormund is really serious about her which is pretty clear from the way he looks at Brienne during her entire stay at Castle Black:

“It was great. It’s always fun to see how far you can go. How would Tormund do this? In the first scene they have, when she comes in, it’s like, boom! ‘Who’s that woman?’… And in the eating scene, he’s looking at her for a while, like, ‘I really like that woman.’ And the third scene on the horse, it’s like… there’s a purity in it. (Laughs.) There’s a real love.”